Don’t get me wrong, I will take the $200 cheque from Ontario’s government early next year and deposit it in my bank account.
It seems like a carrot, yes, if the Progressive Conservatives plan to hold a provincial election next spring, one full year before they have to send us to the polls.
Those who sit on political fences can sometimes be influenced.
It’s also (partly) my money anyway, whether Premier Doug Ford took it out of the provincial sales tax I pay dutifully every year or he borrowed it from the banks, on behalf of the Ontario government.
So I know what the $200 cheque is and I will still take it.
That’s because $200 isn’t enough to secure my vote, no matter which political party has put the cheque in the mail (if Canada Post employees aren’t on strike).
There are several reasons for this stance.
One is certainly that it’s better the $3 billion be in the hands of Ontario residents than the Ontario government. Because politicians, generally, spend like drunken sailors — not to slight sailors, as some of my best friends are sailors.
It’s not their money and politicians aren’t particularly concerned about how or where they spend it.
Ford and company, according to their just-released fall economic statement, are going to run a $6.6-billion deficit this year.
A full $3 billion of that total is the $200 "rebate."
To be fair, this government is forecasting a $1.5-billion deficit next year, then a surplus of $900 million in 2026-27.
But this isn’t about balanced or unbalanced budgets.
Most, but not all, politicians have two questions they ask themselves: How do I get elected, how do I stay elected?
Everything else they do are means to these ends.
Ontario’s Conservatives are not the first government to seemingly attempt to influence the electorate with their own money. In fact, just about every government goes on a spending spree as an election campaign approaches.
I can’t give you any examples because I can’t remember them, because they didn’t have any immediate effect on my bottom line.
And governments have a habit of making promises which extend way beyond the timeline of their mandate.
Ford, for example, with his plan to build 1.5 million new homes by 2031. That’s more than six years from now. And nobody gets six-year terms of office, if I’m counting my fingers correctly.
But you have to give Ford a little credit with his "rebate" cheques, which will be mailed in early 2025 to all adult Ontarians who have filed their 2023 income tax returns (check mark!) and who are not bankrupt (check!) or incarcerated in 2024 (check again!).
Families will also get $200 per child under the age of 18.
So the financial favour is pretty universal. Almost everyone gets it. I will give Ford that.
And I will take mine because, as I said, it’s my money anyway.
Nice of the province to give me a little back.
Bob Bruton covers city hall for BarrieToday and tries not to look a gift horse in the mouth, even one posing as a favour.
